Languages across the world

Understanding communication

The course offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles and functions of human communication, with a particular focus on central aspects and approaches within communication theory.  Different models, aspects and subtypes of communication will be discussed in detail and exemplified with the analysis of conversations, based on real language data. Students will be equipped with the tools they need to understand and apply prominent communication and media theories.

Understanding language

This subject explores the essential characteristics of language as a human phenomenon and linguistic knowledge with the aim of understanding the fundamental principles of the language system. We will introduce some fundamental concepts of linguistics and study a range of linguistic subsystems – e.g. morphology and lexicon, syntax, semantics and pragmatics, phonetics and phonology – drawing on case studies from languages around the world. The scope of this course is to provide an introduction to modern linguistics and stimulate the understanding of all aspects of its subject – language. A brief overview of the main branches of linguistics will also be given.